SK Business Strategy 'Not BBC but ABC?'... Strengthening AI through Rebalancing

Ahead of Choi Tae-won's Management Strategy Meeting, US Business Trip
Focus on AI... Executives Accompany Departure

SK Group is expected to make significant changes to its so-called ‘BBC’ business strategy, which has focused on batteries, bio, and semiconductors as core growth engines in recent years. The battery sector, which has faced repeated criticisms for poor performance and overlapping investments, will likely slow down, while the rapidly growing artificial intelligence (AI) sector will be emphasized, shifting the strategy to ‘ABC’.

It is reported that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won’s recent business trip to the United States, focusing on AI ahead of a management strategy meeting to discuss rebalancing directions, is closely related to this shift. Chairman Chey is currently traveling to the U.S. with key executives related to AI and semiconductors in the group, including SK Telecom President Yoo Young-sang and SK Hynix President Kim Ju-seon (in charge of AI Infra).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Chey plans to review the AI and semiconductor markets locally and meet with key figures from major big tech companies. He previously visited San Jose, USA, in April to meet Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and is known to be visiting ‘Silicon Valley’ in San Jose again, where many big tech companies are gathered. He is also expected to visit several other locations in the U.S. where local partner companies are based.

Since SK has been building an ecosystem from semiconductors to services related to AI, it is anticipated that they will seek collaboration with global companies. SK Hynix maintains leadership in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, which has rapidly grown due to AI expansion, while SK Telecom has been successfully operating the generative AI service ‘A.Dot’.

Earlier this month at the Supex Council, Chairman Chey emphasized, "Businesses such as green and bio will pursue ‘qualitative growth’ based on sound management rather than ‘quantitative growth,’" and added, "It is also important to secure ‘AI leadership’ through the expansion of digital businesses such as semiconductors."

While personally overseeing AI, Chairman Chey is reported to participate via video conference in the management strategy meeting (formerly the expanded management meeting) scheduled for June 28-29 at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. Initially, he planned to attend the meeting and then depart on the business trip, but decided to leave earlier due to concerns about wasted time.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

With AI as a new growth engine, attention is also focused on the outcomes of this year’s management strategy meeting. Key CEOs from major affiliates, including Chairman Chey Chang-won of the SK Supex Council and Vice Chairman Choi Jae-won of SK Innovation, will gather for an intensive two-day discussion.

They are expected to exchange opinions on business rebalancing, which has recently emerged as a major group issue. Following the rebalancing directions discussed at this meeting, each group affiliate plans to enter concrete implementation phases starting in the second half of the year. How AI will be handled at the group level is anticipated to be a critical point of interest. The rebalancing discussions, which have so far been centered on the Supex Council, will move through the management strategy meeting and then to the boards of directors of each affiliate.

There is also interest in what themes Chairman Chey will present. He has previously conveyed his management messages through expanded management meetings, such as ‘Deep Change 2.0’ and ‘Financial Story.’

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.